AIA Wants Minn. DFL Party to Pull Radio Ads

The Minnesota Democrat-Farmer-Labor Party should take its own advice and pull radio ads that include misleading insinuations about the American Insurance Association (AIA), the trade group said.

In an ad airing on Minnesota radio stations, the DFL Party accuses an issue advocacy group of “distorting Paul Wellstone’s record.” It goes on to falsely link the group, Americans for Job Security, with AIA.

“AIA has not contributed, financially or otherwise, to Americans for Job Security in over three years,” Paul Blume Jr., AIA vice president, Midwest region, commented. “AIA is not affiliated in any way with Americans for Job Security, and we had no knowledge of, or input into, any of the group’s activities in Minnesota or anywhere else. This has got to stop right now, and the ball is now in the DFL Party’s court.”

AIA also called on radio stations around the state to stop running the inaccurate ad immediately. Blume said the ad also misleads listeners as to the relationship between Norm Coleman and AIA. “For many years, AIA has been a client of the law firm that Norm Coleman joined earlier this year,” Blume said. “This, however, is completely, one hundred percent irrelevant in light of the fact that AIA has absolutely nothing to do with anything in this controversy.”